Outboard motor assembly



Aug. 1, 1933. J. JOHNSON ET AL 1,920,923

OUTBOARD MOTOR AS SEMBLY Filed Jan. 28, 1829 3 Sheets-Sheet l [v VENTGRS! 100/5 JJ0HN50/v, HARRYLJOHNSON 1, 1933- 1.. J. JOHNSON ET AL 1,920,923

OUTBOARD MOTOR ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 28, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 [Nl/ENTORS l0u/5 J JOHN50M HARRY L JOHNSON Aug. 1, 1933.

L. J. JOHNSON ET AL 1,920,923

OUTBOARD MOTOR ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 28, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 1, 1933 U TE' S TTES ata OUTBOARD. orror. Asset wily Louis J. Johnson, South Bend, Ind., and Harry L.

Johnson, Waukegangllll assignors to Johnson Brothers Engineering Corporation, South Bend,

1nd,, a Corporation of Indiana Applicaticn-January28, 1929. Serial No. 335,446

V lClaims. '(c1.12s 190)- {rected to the cylinders may be appreciably increased and to this ,end we propose to provide 9 a valve of simple and, durableconstruction through which the explosive mixture may pass as it is directed from the carburetor to thecrank case the actuation of said valve'being timed in accordance with the rotation of the'crank shaft.

p More specifically, ourinvention contemplates ,the provision of 'avalve in association with outboard motors and the like'which is of a rotary type, said valvebeing positively actuated in response to the rotation of the crank shaft so as to but which is provided with simple and efiective means "whereby the timing of said valve, with respect to theangular displacement of the crank shaft, may be varied. I 1' Another object of our inventionis to provide a rotary valve construction which is particularly adaptable for outboard motor assemblies, and which is so designed asto permit the introduction of explosive mixture axially of the valve and the discharge of explosive mixtureinto the motor crank case laterally of the valve.-

A. still further object of, our invention is to so arrange the timing of theadmission of the charge from the rotary valve to the crank case, that at the time of entrance of the'said charge the lower crank pin of the two horizontal posed cylinders is passingathe entering orifice, tendingto force thegreater part of the charge to the upper half of the crankcase space, which in turn tends-to supply the. greater portion of the gas toa point in the crank case adjacent the higher cylinder of the offset cylinders, thus gaining a perfect distribution by ofisetting the tendency of ,thelower cylinder'to receive a greater charge of gas than the higher one. V g

In addition to. the above mentioned advantageous characteristics, our invention contemplates the provision of an outboard motor having a rotary valve. construction which has a geared permit the "explosive mixture to be introduced connection with' the motor crank shaft, said geared connection being completely housed within the'crank' shaft housing so asto insure the lubrication thereof, said geared connection being further adjustably arranged to readily permit the valve to be timed in accordance with the rotation of the motor crank shaftq' These and other objects will be more apparent from the following detailed description. when con-' sidered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein q p Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of an outboard motor assembly which is equipped with a rotary valve structure embodying features of ourinvention; 0

FigureZ is a fragmentaryhorizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 2'-2 of Figure 3 disclosing in plan the adjustable valve actuating gears;

Figure 3 is an enlarged central vertical sectional view of a portion of the motor assembly shown in Figure l; c

Figure 4 is a detailed horizontal sectional View taken substantially along the line 44 of Figure 3't0 more clearlydisclose the structure of the rotary valve; and i g Figure 5 is a detailed elevational view of the engine head as viewedv from the right of Figure 3, a portion of the crank case and cylindrical head being broken away todisclose parts otherwise hidden.

Referringno'w to the drawings more'in detail, it will be observed that for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment of our invention, an outboard motor assembly designated generally by the numeral 10, is disclosed in Figuresl and 3. This motor 10 includes a vertical .type crank shaft 12, the lower extremity of assembly which is designated generally by the numeralj 22. This rotary valve assembly '22 comprises awcasing 24 which is vertically bored to receive a, rotary valve 26. This valve 26 isjsupported by a shoulder 28 provided on a vertical shaft30, and the upper and-lower extremities of this shaft 30 are provided with suitable roller bearing mountings 32 and 34 respectively.- The res v gear '48 from the valve v26. In that instance it valve 26 is provided with a recess orpassageway 36 which is designed to establish communication between the chamber 38 within the crank case 20 anda passageway 40 at the lower end of the casing 24 when said valve is positioned as shown in Figure 3. The lower end or entrance of the recess 36 is circular and convergesupwardly and laterally (to the right, Figure 3) and terminates is adapted to be rotated past and to register with a greater opening 44'provided in the casing rectangular Opening signated by them. ineral 42. This rectangular opening or exit 42 24, and when these openings register with each other, communication will be established be- 15 tween the chamber 38 and the passage-way 40. This passage-way 40 is connected, by means of suitable pipe connections, with acarburetor 46,

means of a pin 52, Figures 2 and 3. gThisl'pin" 52, which is inserted at its lower extremity withinlthe rotary valve26, extends upwardlyfrom said valve a sufllcient distanceso as to permit one 'ofthreeconcentrically arrangedapertures '54,provided in thegear 48,'to be operatively associated therewith. Referring now-particularly to Figure 2, it will'be seen thatthese apertures i54 areangularly spaced'soas topermit the openingand closing ofvthe valve 26 to be advanced or retarded. This will. bemore readily appreciated when the gear is considered as beare.

ing' a fixed relation with respect to thecrank shaft-12 andcon'sequently-with respect to the position of the pistons (not shown) which 'reciprocate within the cylinders 18,; Thegear 48, however, may be lifted upwardlyfrom. its seat upon the valve 26 sufiiciently to disengage one of the apertures 54 from thepin 52 and then freely rotated independently ofthe rotary. valve. Thus, if the gear 48- is disengaged from the pin 52, Figure 2, and rotated in-the direction of its :normal rotation, as indicated by the arrow, until the next following aperture registers withthe pin 52, the gear.48 will not mesh with'the gear 50 until said gear 48 and the valve now'connected therewith, isrotated through an angular distance equivalent to one-third of the width of the gear tooth. In other words, by angularly shiftingthe gear 48 until the next following aperture 54 registers with the pin 52 and then imparting an additional rotationto the connected parts, the timing of the" valve is slightly advanced. Obviously,'if it is-desired to rotate the valve for the purpose of advancing itth'rough a distance equivalent to two-thirdsof the thickness .of the gear teeth, it is only nec'essaryto cause the second following aperture 54;to be carried into registration with the pin 52. 7 It will be apparent that if it is'desired to shift the valve through adistance equivalent to a tooth thickness,' it will not be necessaryto disengage the will only be necessary to disengage the gear 48 from the gear 50 and then move the gear- 48 in the'direction indicated through a distance equivalentto the thickness of one tooth. By employing the angularly'spaced apertures 54, a very refined and accurate timing adjustment of the valve 26 may be made and this feature is decidedly advantageous in connection with the operation of internal combustion engines such as the disclosed outboard motor 10. From the foregoing itwill be readily understood that in order toretard the valve 26,'it will only be necessary to move th'e gear 48, with respect to the gear 50 in a'direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. In other words, the gear 48 would be disengaged from the pin 52, moved in aclockwise direction until the next following or the second following aperture is carried intoregistration with'the pin 52. A cap 56 is adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the casing 24 by means of bolts 58, and from the foregoing it will be apparent that when this cap'is secured in position, both of the gears 48 and 50 willbe completely housed or shielded within their respective casings and the lubrication thereof is therefore'positively insured. Oil from the crank case 20 willalso serve to effectively lubricate all of the other movable partswhich have'be'en described in connection with the consideration' of the rotary valve assembly 22. A protecting cap 60 is also provided at the lower end'of'the casing 24% clearly shown in Figures 1 1 and 3.

Attention is directed to the fact that in the particular embodiment of the motor shownin the drawings, the cylinder 18 isvertically offset with respect-to the cylinder 18. When the rotary valve just described is employed in connection with an outboard motor having these offset opposed cylinders it is desirable-to have thevalve open during the period when the portion of the connection rod 59 of the lower cylinder which is coupled'with the crankshaft is swept immediately in front of the-valve as,clearly shown in Figure 3; When the lower connecting rod 59 is being, swung through theabove mentioned path, the upper connectingrod 61 is being moved-so that theend coupled withthe crank shaft isremotely positioned with respect to the rotary valve. The introduction of the fuel or gas into the crank case whenthe connecting rods occupy the above mentioned relation insures a much more uniform distribution of the fuel into the cylinders than :would result if the upper ratherthan the lower 'crank shaft were swung in front of. the valve as said valve wasopened. If the later relation were employed the fuel, which normally seeksia lower level, would more readily flow into the lowermost cylinder 18 than into the higher cylinder 18, thereby establishing non-uniform distribution of thefuel into said cylinders. By having the rotary valve opened at the bottom as indicated in thefdrawings, that is, at the period whenthe lower crank shaft is moved adjacently withrespect to the rotary valve, we have been able to obtain the desired uniformity in distributionof the fuel to the cylinders. I From the foregoing description it will be understood that our invention contemplates the .provision of a rotary type inlet'valve of simple and economical construction which will ,serve to es-- tablishcommunication between the carburetor and-'theengine'crank case chamber atproper predetermined intervals. The opening of the rotary valve may be so timed as to permit of the introduction of the explosive mixture into the chamber 38'when the pistons (not shown) occupy a predetermined position within their respective cylinders 18. Thus the valvemay be so timed as to allow the explosive mixture to be taken into the crank case during the complete compression stroke of the cylinder and to close during the expanding stroke thereof. In this way an increased charge of explosive mixture may be introduced within the cylinder. In other words, the closing of the valve 26 during the power stroke of the piston prevents any of the mixture within the crank case from being forced back into the passages leading to the carburetor. Our invention provides a very unique and simple means for accurately timing the valve and this timing may be made within refined limits. By having the movable or rotative parts constituting the rotary valve assembly completely housed, the lubrication of such parts is insured and the possibility of foreign matter being introduced is positively precluded. By constructing the valve 26 so that the gases are taken in axially of the valve and discharged laterally thereof, a very positive flow of said gases from the passageway 40 into the crank case chamber 38 is insured by reason of the centrifugal force within the valve recess which tends to force said gases laterally into the chamber 38.

The rotary valve 26 is very light in construction and in fact, to increase its lightness, a cavity 62 is provided, as clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4. When the rotary valve is employed with engine heads having opposed offset cylinders we are able to obtain the desired uniformity in distribution of the fuel to the cylinders by effecting the opening of the valve during the time when the lower connecting rod and crank shaft arm are being swung past said valve as already described.

Our improved rotary valve unit is particularly adaptable for use with outboard motors of the horizontally rotatable and vertically tiltable type. The compactness of the unit and the positive gear driving mechanism protectively housed within the unit enable the same to be'conveniently attached to the side of the motor crank case. By having the timing gear'supported at the upper end of the valve and covered by the removable cap, a very convenient and practical construction is afforded and access to all of the movable parts within the unit may be readily effected.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In combination-with a chamber of an internal combustion engine, a rotary valve unit including a closed casing independently secured to the wall of said chamber and communicating therewith, said casing provided with a bore, a cylindrical valve rotatable within said bore, a shaft extending axially of and supporting the cylindrical valve, a gear connected to said cylindrical valve and extending through the valve opening into the chamber, a separate removable member for protectively covering and enclosing said gear,

and means connecting said gear with a movable element of the engine.

2. In combination with the crankcase of an internal combustion motor, a rotary valve unit including a casing adapted to be removably secured to and communicating with the interior of the crankcase of the motor, a vertical bore within the casing, a cylindrical valve rotatable within said bore, a vertical shaft extending axially of and supporting said cylindrical valve, a passageway within said valve adapted to establish communication between the motor crankcase and the carburetor in response to rotation of the cylinrical valve, a gear secured to and seated upon,

the upper end of the valve and extending through the valve opening, a removable cover member positioned immediately above said gear, and a second gear secured to the crank shaft of the motor and operatively connected with the gear on the cylindrical valve, the gears being enclosed by the crank case and valve casing.

3. In combination with the closed crank case of an internal combustion motor having a drive shaft, a rotary valve unit including a casing adapted to be removably secured to and communicating with the interior of the crank case of the motor, a cylindrical valve rotatable within said casing, said valve having a passageway for establishing communication between the motor crank case and the carburetor system, one end of said passageway being concentrically arranged with respect to the valve and the other end there- I of terminating peripherally of the valve so as to permit the discharge of gases laterally thereof into the motor crank case, a shaft positioned axially of and supporting the cylindrical valve, said shaft being rotatable within the casing, a gear adjustably secured to the upper end of the cylindrical 'valve, and another gear carried by the drive shaft of the motor, said gear meshing with the gear carried by the cylindrical valve, and the gears being connected through the same opening in the crank case as that for the valve and enclosed by the motor crank case and the valve casing, and the valve gear being accessible for renewal and adjustment independent of the motor gear.

4. The combination with a combustion engine I 

